Lighting up the Holidays: 9 Candles at a Time

This week it rained here in San Diego. For many of you that might not seem like such a big deal. Rain Schmain. It'??s water right? But here in San Diego it'??s Water. From. The. Sky. I mean'?¦ falling right from the sky. On to the roads. Making them slippery. And wet. I'??m sure you get my point by now.

Being an atypical Californian I love the rain. Something soothing about the white light that emanates from the grey cloud cover. The gentle music of the drops hitting the steel roof of my car in time with the tempo of my windshield wipers.Rainy days find me out of the office, behind the wheel, winding through the back country roads just east of downtown. For being a city boy that enjoys the hustle of the city and relishes in industrial grime (I'??ll show some of my photographs sometime) I really do enjoy my quiet time on Highway 79.

It is in these quiet moments that I spend time thinking about friends and family and often times dial someone up just to say hi. Yesterday being no different I dialed up a friend of mine to wish him an early Hanukah. Though it doesn'??t start until next Tuesday (Sundown the 20th), to him my pre-Hanukah call is his reminder to bring the menorah out of its protective wrappings and start his display. It'??s like my own little public service. A Hanukah reminder call.

Brandon Smith is principal of the San Diego based spatial design company D.Coop. Focusing on sustainable, workable and budget friendly design, he provides In The Box solutions to Out of the Box questions. You can follow him on Twitter @dcoopsd or on his wildy popular blog A D.Coop Bloogie.